Giving Up On Me
by Hollyslbd
Summary: What happened to Emma while she was in the foster system? A story about the struggle she went through before finding Storybrooke and what made her the way she is today.
1. Chapter 1

**I have not been able to find a fanfic about Emma's childhood. I tried to make this follow this little details that we know about what happened to her and I'm going to try to incorporate details and people that made Emma the way she is now. **

* * *

Emma Swan got her last name from her first foster family. Marsha and Gavin Swan took her in when she was about 10 weeks old. Marsha was unable to have her own children and fell in love with Emma at the orphanage. Even though she would not be able to remember it, Emma had a normal first three years of life. Her foster parents held her when she cried and even recorded her first steps. Everything was perfect until one day Marsha found out that she was pregnant. Having her own child was always a dream for Marsha and even though she loved Emma very much, she knew she would not be able to give her as much attention as she would give her own child. So Marsha and Gavin made the decision to put Emma in the foster system. Thinking that she would have a better life that way. Boy were they wrong.

* * *

At three years old Emma found herself riding in the back seat of her car with her social worker Rachel. Rachel promised that her new family would be just as nice as her other one. Rachel was wrong. When they got to the house the door was unlocked and a teenage boy could be heard screaming through the door. Emma refused to get out of the car seat. Now Rachel knew that this probably was not the best home for a little girl, but nobody was in the mood to adopt a three year old. Especially because they believed there was probably something wrong with her, the reason why her other family gave her up. "Come on Emma please get out of the car." Rachel pleaded. Tears streamed down Emma's face but she finally gave in. Rachel lifted her up from the chair and grabbed a bag of her things. Normally she would have let Emma walk into the house, but the girl was holding on for dear life. She let her hold on a little bit longer while she rang the door bell to the already open house.

"Come in" somebody shouted from deep inside. Rachel braced herself as she pushed the door open revealing a disgusting home. "I'm in the kitchen." The voice which according to the papers belonged to Karen, Emma's new mother. On her way to what she guessed was the kitchen she passed an old man asleep on the couch. Two boys about the age of ten watching spongebob at full volume. The teenage boy sat smoking on the stair case. Karen seemed to be making some sort of dinner in the kitchen. "Is this the girl."

"Yes this is Emma." Rachel tightened her grip on the her. "You know if this is inconvenient for you I can drop her off some other time".

"No this is fine for me." She reached her arms out for the girl. "Come on Hanna."

"Her name is Emma."

"Oh well what ever. So you said the check was already on its way right?"

"Yes, but I'm not really sure this is going to be a good fit."

"Beggars can't be chooser. Come here baby." Rachel put Emma on the floor and the girl started to cry.

She knelt down to say goodbye, "Listen Emma, I'm going to get you out of here. As soon as I can." Rachel whispered. Emma reached for her again, but she couldn't do anything about it. "This is bag of her things. She is potty trained. Really likes Elmo."

"Okay great. Close the door on your way out." As Rachel left the room she heard Emma's screams echo throughout the house.

* * *

After that day Rachel worked very hard to find a proper home for Emma. In a week she had found a family much better suited than Karen and gladly went to recuse the girl. She knew that Karen was not going to be willing to give up the check that came with Emma without a fight, so she brought her boyfriend for reinforcements.

"If it takes longer than 30 minutes ring the doorbell." She told Steve. "Also you should be driving, so worse case senario I jump in the car and we drive away before putting Emma in the back."

"Relax Rach its not going to be that bad."

"You did not see the look on her face. Like I had given up on her." When they arrived to the house she saw that teenage boy smoking outside.

"Hi I'm Emma's social worker. Is your mother around?"

"Who is Emma." He asked.

"The little girl I dropped off here about a week ago. Blonde hair, three years old."

"Hanna. Yeah please tell me you are taking that little shit away. She has not stopped crying since you dropped her off."

"Yeah well maybe because her name is Emma." Rachel raises her voice and Steve sense that something is wrong.

"Rach." Rachel turns to look at him and she knows that its no use to argue.

"Anyways can I speak to Karen."

"Yeah, doors open." She goes inside sees Emma sitting on the floor in tears.

"Emma." The girl turns at her name. One of which she hadn't heard all weak. Rachel quickly picks up the girl and holds Emma on her hip. Emma rests her blonde head on her shoulder, finally feeling a bit of safety. Karen comes down the stairs relieved that 'Hanna' had finally stopped crying.

"What are you doing here?"

"Sorry but we found a better home for her."

"You can't take her away, she is my baby."

"Please, you have only had her a week. You won't even miss her."

"Yes I will."

"Oh I'm not talking about the check she came with. Now can I please go pack her bags."

"No, you can't I need her. She is happy here."

"So that's why I found her crying on the floor."

"You can't do this."

"Yes I can actually. I need her bag."

"Fine. I want another kid though."

"I'll be sure to put in a good word for you amongst the other social workers." Karen goes into the kitchen and retrieves Emma's unopened bag almost throwing it at Rachel. Rachel grabs it out of her hand before she can do so. "Her name is Emma by the way." Rachel calls as she runs out the door.

* * *

The next family Emma ended up in were not actually that bad. Catherine her foster mother was a little distant at times, but she never hurt Emma. They put Emma in a good preschool and for the most part she was content. That was until John, Catherine's husband, decided to sleep with his secretary. One day John picked Emma up from preschool and was greeted by a very pissed Catherine. As they walked through the door Catherine gave Emma a fudgesical and told her to go play outside. At the time Emma was 5 years old, chocolate could pretty much bribe her into doing anything. So she sat on the front porch eating her ice cream and watching her foster parents fight. About an hour later John came outside. "Hey Em its time to go back inside now." John scooped her up and carried her inside, careful that she didn't walk on any of the broken glass.

"I told you to get out of my house." Catherine screamed. She would have thrown another plate if Emma wasn't in the way.

"Mommy?" Emma asked clearly scared. Catherine took Emma out of John's arms. "Say goodbye baby." She said to her. Catherine took Emma upstairs and started to pack her bags. She waited until John left the house to call the foster system. "Rachel I'm sorry, but I can't take care of her right now."

"Are you planning on getting her back in the future?"

"Yes." She said as she watched Emma play with one of her dolls. "She's my baby."

"Well you have to understand that we will have to find her a new home for her to stay in. That she may not be able to ever live with you again. Are you willing to give her up."

Emma did not understand why Catherine was crying during the car ride. She tired to ask where they were going but it only made her cry harder. When they finally got there Catherine carried Emma out of the car. Emma thought that was weird because she usually made her walk. She was rolling a suitcase behind her, something Emma vaguely recognized from before. "I'm so sorry baby. I'm sorry." She whispered into Emma's hair as they walked into the building.

Rachel recognized Emma and tried to convince Catherine that she should keep her. She was just mad and acting irrationally, when really she was fully capable of taking care of the child by herself. "Are you sure you want to do this? I mean its not like Emma is that hard to take care of."

"I've already made up by mind." She places Emma on floor and gets down to her level. "Emma you've made me very happy these past two years. I just want you to know that. You didn't do anything wrong. I'm sorry I have to go." Emma gives her a hug and Catherine starts to sob. She gets up and walks away fast before she can change her mind. Emma starts to cry too.

She looks at Rachel and asks, "Where am I going to go?"

* * *

Emma ended up in more horrible foster homes. Rachel tried her best to find a nice family, but there just weren't any more. Emma hated every second she spent inside many of those homes and school would be her only escape. She changed houses so often and school districts that she never really made any friends. Emma Swan spent most of her time alone. The only person she could call a friend was Rachel. Her only problem was that she only came to visit when things were getting really bad. She came to pick Emma up one night when she was 7. The home Emma lived in wasn't that bad. The family really did not care about her at all, but they gave her food and took her to school. Emma spent a lot of time watching the small TV they put in her tiny room. She had two older brothers who she sometimes played with, but mostly the family didn't want anything to do with her. Her main purpose was to serve as some extra money. They picked her because they figured she wouldn't cause much trouble, or eat very much. Both of which were right. So it was a surprise when they called Rachel to pick her up. "So what exactly did she do?" Rachel asked trying to understand the situation.

"Okay truth is she really didn't do anything. She actually never does anything. We would love to keep having her stay, but we are moving."

"Where are you moving to?"

"My mother's. She lives in a two bedroom house so obviously we don't want to bring another kid with us."

"Well I'm sorry you have to move."

"Yeah so am I, but we can't afford this place anymore."

"Thanks for taking good care of her. At least you didn't just drop her off because you had a fight with your husband."

"Damn people do that?"

"You would be surprised with the type of people you meet in the system."

"Wow, well I'm sorry I won't be seeing any more of you." She smiled down at Emma. Who was already holding Rachel's hand.

"Thank you." She said, she would give the woman a hug, but she felt no attachment to the family. After the boys said goodbye she sat in Rachel's car feeling nothing.

"Hey sweetie, you okay?"

"Yeah. I didn't really like them anyway."

"Were they mean to you?"

"No, but they just didn't really care."

"I'm sure they were just busy."

"I don't want another family."

"I'm sorry Emma, but you have to live somewhere."

"What if this is a bad one."

"You just have to believe that this one is better. Anyway you only have to do this for 11 more years."

"That's a long time. I'm not even 11 years old!" Emma started to cry and Rachel didn't know how to comfort her.

* * *

At 8 years old Emma learned how to take care of herself. The family she was living with were pretty big drinkers and often were found passed out on the floor. Emma slowly started to collect any extra money she found while they were drinking. She also saved the three dollars they gave her every day for lunch. By the time she had completely planned her escape she had around 300 dollars. With that money she planned on buying a train ticket and getting far away from Maine. Being only 8 she had not figured out what she would do once she got there, or how she would survive. She still had hope that a nice family would adopt her, but of course she knew that would probably never happen.

Emma packed the few belongings she cared about in her backpack. She went to the kitchen and grabbed some snacks that she could carry and headed out the back door. The family didn't even notice she had left. Emma underestimated the cold and was freezing before she was even a quarter of the way to the train station. She saw the glow of the lights coming from a big building and realized that it was a church. She figured nobody would mind if she went inside to warm up so she did. Nobody noticed as she sat down in the back. Emma put her backpack on the seat and rested her head on it. She told herself that she would just stay there until she was warm enough, but she ended up falling asleep.

She was waken by the minister who was very concern as to why she was there all alone. She tried to lie her way out and tell them that her mother had just went to get the car, but he didn't believe her. Instead he called the police. "How did you know I was lying?" Emma asked.

"Well I figured most mothers would not leave a little girl by herself this late at night."

"Yeah I probably should have come up with something better."

"Why did you lie in the first place."

"I didn't want to go back." The minister could tell that Emma was upset and because he felt bad decided to try to cheer her up.

"Another way I can tell when people are lying is because of their voice. Sometimes people's voices change when they lie. They also try to avoid looking into your eyes. Or they move around and seem very uncomfortable."

"The family I live with lies a lot." Emma said, the minster wanted to help but the police arrived before he could do anything.

"Emma we couldn't contact your foster family, but we did reach your social worker. She is going to meet us at the station. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah. I guess so." She said as she grabbed her backpack. "Thanks for waiting with me." She told the minster as she dejectedly walked to the car.

* * *

**Okay so I figure this chapter is long enough. My plan for this story is to continue writing short little things about what went wrong at each family and then maybe going into detail for Emma's high school years. So hopefully that sounds good to you. I'm sorry if there are any grammar and spelling mistakes because my proof reading skills are horrible. Anyway it would be really awesome if you could write a review to tell me what you think about this story. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to everybody who reviews/favorited/followed this story.**

The seats at the police station were extremely uncomfortable. Emma had been sitting in one for about an hour. Rachel was stuck in the snow storm. Emma kept wondering if she would have made it to the train station before the snow started to fall and what would have happened to her if she didn't. "Do you want some coffee?" The cop watching over her asked.

"No I'm 8." She answered. She never knew why people always treated her like she was older. She had just attempted to run away and live on her own, but still she was just a kid.

When Rachel finally arrived she was not happy to see Emma. She was pissed that she had to drive all that way in the snow in the middle of the night. Her hair wasn't done and she was not wearing any makeup. Emma suddenly felt very worried. She did not want Rachel to be mad at her. Rachel was the only person she could really trust. She waited in agony as Rachel discussed the situation with the cop. When she was done Rachel sat down in the seat next to her. "So we haven't been able to contact your foster family. We don't know if they are worried that you have went missing but when they call the police they are going to tell them that we found you. Normally I would have drove you back, but because its so late I'm not going to bother. So I suggest we just all go home."

"I don't really have a home at the moment." Emma tried to joke. Suddenly she was holding back tears. Tears she knew would start falling any second. She bolted off the chair and ran into a near by bathroom.

"Emma!" Rachel called after her but she didn't answer. Rachel has seen her cry a million times before, but this time she didn't want her to see. She found some toilet paper and started to wipe her eyes. She tried to take deep breaths to calm her down. "Emma are sick? Do you need some help?" Rachel kept asking. Emma knew she had to get out soon but she wanted to stay in that bathroom forever.

"We have an extra key made we can use to open the door." She heard the police man say. She look at herself in the mirror one last time and flushed the toilet paper. Hopefully nobody could tell she was upset. Swinging open the door she was startled by Rachel's sudden embrace.

"Oh thank god you are okay." Rachel said.

"I'm fine." Emma replied harshly.

"I was thinking you could come home with me tonight. It would be stupid for me to come pick you up here tomorrow."

"Whatever."

"I bet you are hungry."

"I'm fine."

"Well lets go then."

They pull up to a McDonalds even though Emma swore she wasn't hungry. Rachel knew that this must have been hard for her. That everything she had to do was hard. So for once in her life she wanted to give Emma something that would make her life a little bit easier. She started with a burger.

"I know you aren't hungry but take just a couple of bits." Rachel said handing Emma the burger. They were still in the car but she wanted her to eat so she could go to bed as soon as they got home.

"Fine."

"You know Emma you can talk to me about anything."

"No I can't. You're mad at me."

"Emma no I'm not. I was just a little frustrated because of the snow and I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

"Well bad things have happened to me."

"Was it the family you are living with. Did they hit you or something."

"No, but they sometimes forgot to feed me. All they really care about it drinking. That's why they didn't even notice I was gone. I honestly don't think they will until you drop me off tomorrow. Well that is of course if you come before six. After six they don't really remember anything."

"Wow well I guess we have to find you a new home." Emma took a bite of the burger so she wouldn't have to answer. She tried to make it stop her from crying. The last thing she wanted was a new home. Even if her home was awful she knew that it could get worse. She could handle the family she was in now.

"We don't really have to."

"No if they neglect you like that they are not fit to be parents."

"Thanks for the burger." Emma said as she took her final bit. "I guess I was more hungry then I expected." Rachel noticed how skinny she was getting. She didn't know if it was genetics or because of her diet. Either way she felt bad that she was not a bigger help.

"Here time for a milkshake."

* * *

Rachel opened the door to her apartment and was greeted by her husband Steve. "Hey baby." He said giving her a quick kiss. "This must be Emma."

"Hi. Who are you?" Emma asked.

"I'm Steve. Rachel's husband."

"Oh hi."

"I put some pillows on the couch for you to sleep on."

"Thanks."

"Yeah Em its super late, so I think we should all just go to bed. You can sleep in as late as you want because I doubt I'm getting up before 2 at this rate."

"Okay." She climbed into the covers on the sofa and Rachel tucked her in. Kissing her forehead she disappeared into the bedroom with Steve. Emma couldn't sleep even though it was extremely late. Instead all she could think about was how her real parents didn't want her. How she would never know what it felt like to have somebody love her so much that they did not want to give her away. That night she cried herself to sleep.

* * *

After arriving at Emma's current foster home and realizing the family had no idea she had been gone all that time Rachel knew that they were unfit parents. She waited as Emma packed her things into the tiny suit case ready to start her new life. This new family seemed perfect. They already had two kids, a girl and boy plus the parents seemed to have a stable marriage. Either way it couldn't be worse than the alcoholics she was living with now.

Emma knew from the moment she walked into their house that this family would be different. Her new "sister", Kristina was extremely happy to meet her. Quickly showing her their new shared bedroom. Emma was use to having her own space, as small as it had been. She liked to be alone. She was not very excited to be living with miss perky for the next couple of months. Kristina was the same age as Emma, while her older brother Tyler was 10. Emma thought that there was a possibility that she would maybe like Tyler and they could be friends. When Tyler gave her a hug the first time they met and asked if she wanted to play baseball with him she knew there would be no such luck. She was about to call Rachel to get herself out of that place when it was time for dinner. All four members of the family sat down at the table to eat the meal prepared by the mother. Emma honestly thought this only happened on TV.

"So Emma dear tell us about yourself." The mother asked her.

"Um. Well I'm 8."

"I know we are the same age." Kristina informed her for the 10th time.

"What do you like to do Emma?" The dad asked.

"Watch TV."

"Oh we don't have a TV." The mother said smiling. "We want to encourage education. TV is just mindless garbage that kills braincells."

"So uh what do you do then?"

"Once a month we are allowed to go to the movie theater to see one movie." Tyler said. "But it has to be rated G."

"Rachel said she wanted me to call her to make sure I was settling in okay. Is it okay if I do that now?"

"Normally we are not allowed to leave the table during meals, but since you are new we will let it slide." Emma's new mother showed her where the phone was. Thankfully it was in the other room where nobody could over hear her.

"Rachel it's Emma."

"Oh god is something wrong."

"Yeah they are awful."

"Did they hit you are you hurt."

"No they are nice. Like really really nice."

"Then what is the problem."

"They are way to nice. I can't live like this. I think she is going to tuck me in at night and read me bedtime stories."

"Emma that's sweet."

"I don't want sweet. I can't do this."

"Yes you can. It hasn't even been a day."

"Rachel they don't have a TV."

"They don't?"

"No." Emma started to panic. It was something that had started to happen to her ever since she had the idea to run away. It started to happen when she felt trapped and couldn't get out of a situation. The first signs of panic was her heavy breathing. Something Rachel thankfully picked up on.

"Okay Ems listen. I'll come and get you in a month. I know you can survive that one month. You might change your mind."

"Okay."

* * *

"Emma these are all of my friends. Tracy and Carrie and Lizzie and Jennifer and Jack and Parker and Tristan." Kristina was trying to introduce Emma to people at their school during recess. Emma couldn't remember a single name. She really didn't want to either. In a month she would have a new family. One that did not want to force her to be friends.

"So are you happy that you are adopted now. Were you dreaming your whole life for this?" One of the girls asked.

"This isn't Annie and I'm not adopted." Emma answered.

"Emma don't be mean. I'll tell mom. Plus Annie thought her birth parents were coming back to get her."

"Fine tell her." At that point Emma gave up. She didn't want to talk to these kids that she would never be friends with. Emma walked away and sat on one of the swings.

Tyler sat on the swing next to her. "Whats up." Out of the two Tyler was much better than Kristina.

"Nothing really."

"Do you want to meet my friends?"

"No I don't."

"Okay." He sat on the swing for a little while longer before leaving when he realized I was not going to talk to him. '

The rest of that month was awful. Tyler and Kristina decided that they hated Emma and never invited her to do anything with them again. She spent a lot of time by herself and wouldn't talk to anyone. When one month passed Rachel called hoping that Emma was having a great time but was disappointed that she would have to pick her up the next day.

* * *

**I really want to focus a big part of this story on Emma when she is in highschool so I might just write really short pieces for her life from ages 9-13. I hope thats okay. Also sorry this was not the most eventful chapter. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks so much to everybody who has reviews/favorited/followed this story. It really means a lot. **

* * *

"Emma you are going to miss the bus." Lily the lady she was living with screamed at her. Emma was nine years old at the time and really did not think the forth grade would miss her. Plus she felt so awful she could barely move. "What is going on?" Lily said finally going into her bedroom.

"I feel sick." Emma said before she started coughing.

"Bullshit, get up and go to school."

"I can't I'm sick."

"I know you don't have friends, but that doesn't mean you can just skip school." Emma felt so bad that she started crying from frustration.

"Lily we need to leave now." Lily's husband called out to her.

"Emma won't go to school."

"Let her stay home damnit it we pay 200 dollars per hour I'm not going to miss this appointment." Lily and her husband were in couples therapy.

"Okay fine Emma you can stay home but just for today." Emma finally stopped crying and went back to sleep.

When she woke up three hours later she felt even worse. She tried everything she could to get warm, but kept failing. She knew she had a fever but nobody was home to give her any medicine and she had no clue where they kept it. Emma started to cry again because she didn't know what else to do. About an hour later Lily finally came home.

"I don't fucking care that child was suppose to bring us closer, but its just tearing us apart." She heard Lily's husband say.

"You never even spend any time with her, I have to do everything for her." Lily screamed.

"Really because I think she does everything for herself."

"Don't give me that bullshit."

"She was sick today but you were forcing her to go to school. Did you even give her breakfast because I sure as hell didn't."

"Fuck we forgot to feed her."

"Wow now who is acting like she's a dog." Lily goes into Emma's room.

"Hey are you hungry."

"Do you have tylenol?"

"You aren't really that sick."

"Yes I am. I have a fever."

"You do not. Do you want food." Emma just shook her head no and crawled back into bed. She knew that this was it. Nobody cared if she was sick so nobody would care if she died. She closed her eyes and imagined what her life would be like if her parents hadn't given her up.

* * *

"Emma time for school." Lily called from her room.

"You should get the kid an alarm clock."

"Why the hell don't you do it." Thirty minutes later she went to her room to wake her up. She put her arm on Emma's head and felt the heat radiating off of her. "Oh my god. Emma" She shook her awake. Emma immediately started crying. "Get your ass in here and bring a thermometer, she has a really high fever." A minute later Lily was holding it under Emma's arm and listening to the beeps signaling that the fever kept getting higher and higher. "105 we let her get an 105 fever!" Lily was hysterical.

"Calm down. It's okay, get in the car we have to go to the hospital."

The people at the ER were stunned that Lily couldn't answer any of the questions about Emma's medical history. Lily ended up crying harder then Emma was, which led to her husband to calling Rachel. There was no way they were fit to raise a kid.

"You almost let her die? This isn't going to sound very professional, but you are fucking kidding me?" Rachel screamed as soon as she arrived. She sat in the hospital room with Emma.

"She has pneumonia give her these antibiotics and she should be better in a couple of days, if not bring her back because this is a really serious situation." The doctors informed them.

"Okay sweetie you are going to stay with me a for a while until you get better, is that okay." Rachel told Emma as she lightly brushed the hair out of Emma's eyes. Emma nodded her head yes and then turned away so Rachel couldn't see her face. At that moment she sort of wished she had died.

* * *

Emma Swan never believed that she was smart. She always knew she was capable of taking care of herself, but that there was something wrong with her. Her parents didn't want her and she could never stay in the same foster family for more than three years. Nobody wanted to adopt her and she was never able to make any friends. At age 11 she found out that she had even more problems.

Emma was sitting in the back of her english class not really paying any attention. She tended to draw little pictures on the side of her papers because class was so boring. Her teacher Ms. Tammer started handing out the next assignment and Emma's heart skipped a beat when she read the title. "Family History". "Take note class that this assignment is going to count for 25 percent of your grade. You are suppose to interview one significant family member in your life and write five short stories about family traditions and things that you do with your family. Due next friday." Emma had no idea what she was going to do.

On the bus ride home Emma decided that she could probably just make up a family for herself. There was no way she was going to ask the family she had been living with to help her. They weren't exactly the most kid friendly people. She sat down on her bed and grabbed her notebook. Emma usually was pretty good at school, but she couldn't figure out what to write. She didn't exactly know how a normal family would function. So she gave up and decided to worry about it later.

Three Weeks Later

The bell rang signaling that class was over. Emma grabbed her things and was about to head out the door when Ms. Tammer asked her to stay. "Emma you haven't turned in your family history assignment yet."

"Sorry." Emma mumbled.

"It's already a week late. When are you planning on turning it in?"

"I didn't do it. Sorry." Emma began to get very nervous.

"You know it's 25 percent of your grade. Why didn't you do it?" Emma didn't answer. Ms. Tammer had always liked Emma and thought she was a good student so she decided to give her a second chance. "Okay Emma I'll give you one more week to complete the assignment."

"Thanks." Emma grabbed her backpack and headed out of class before the teacher could say anything else to her.

One Week Later

Emma didn't write anything. She knew she could have wrote about the time she almost died from pneumonia or when she tried to run away. She had fond memories from her month of living without a TV or what about the time the family woke up loving her but later that day changed their mind. Emma tried to plan out what she was going to tell Ms. Tammer, but she had no idea what to say to her either. So she waited until the end of class to see how things panned out.

"Emma Swan stay behind please." Emma grabbed her stuff and sat in the desk in front of the teacher's. Ms. Tammer leaned against her desk and looked at Emma. "Do you have the assignment." Emma shook her head. "Is there something going on at home?" There was always something going on at home, but Emma shook her head no. "I'm going to have to contact your parents and fail you."

"No."

"Then you better start explaining."

"I..."

"Start with why you didn't do the assignment." Emma sat in silence trying to figure out what to say. "Emma I'm on your side. I want you to succeed."

"I didn't do the assignment because I'm in the foster system so I don't have a family. My parents didn't want me. They left me on the side of the road."

"Oh my god I had no idea. You should have told me I would have come up with something else you could have done."

"Can I go?" She asked.

"Uh sure." Ms. Tammer was obviously in shock.

* * *

There weren't a lot of people Emma liked, but there also weren't a lot of people she couldn't tolerate. Jessica was one of the people she hated. She tormented Emma for not having any friends and always made her feel bad about herself. Emma never found the energy to fight back because she knew that she was right.

"Emma you are going to be partners with Jessica." Ms. Tammer assigned. They were suppose to make a creative project for the book they had been reading. Emma moved over to sit next to Jessica.

"Great I have to work with the freak." Jessica muttered to her friends and they all started laughing. "Did you even read the book?"

"Yes."

"Well you were probably too stupid to understand it. I'll make the project and you can present it." Jessica knew how much Emma hated class presentation and was doing this to punish her. Emma was not going to fight anything so she agreed.

_Three Days Later_

"Emma and Jessica go next."

"Don't mess this up freak." Jessica whispered as they both went to the front of the class. The problem was Jessica never even showed Emma the project. So Emma was for sure going to mess this up, badly. Jessica handed Emma the box that contained their project and Emma opened up the lid. Inside she found a rat. Emma screamed and dropped the box. Jessica started laughing, the whole class started laughing. Emma started hyperventalting and ran out of the room. She waited until she was safely in the hallway.

She wasn't crying because everybody was laughing at her or because Jessica was mean enough to pull a prank like that. She was crying because once when she was younger one of her foster parents got really mad because they found rats in the basement. They blamed Emma for it, even though she never even went in the basement. They were so mad that they locked her in the basement for three days and made her stay with the rats. As soon as she got out she called Rachel and got the hell out of there, but she was traumatized ever since. She couldn't stand looking at any kind of rodent and even got upset just thinking about them.

Ms. Tammer came out into the hallway and gave Emma a hug. Emma wasn't use to hugs, especially not from her teacher. "Jessica is going to the principal and I already gave her detention for two weeks. Are you okay." Emma didn't answer. "You have a lot of catchup work to do Emma. Can you eat in my classroom today during lunch?" Emma still didn't answer. "Look if you want to change things, you're going to have to go out there and change them yourself. People are going to tell you who you are your whole life, but you just have to punch back and tell them who you really are."

"Okay?"

"You will understand when you are older."

"Actually I think I understand now and yes I will eat in your classroom today." Emma eventually told Ms. Tammer about the rat story, and select other stories from her past. Ms. Tammer's classroom became a sort of a safe haven for her and she even started to enjoy her company.

* * *

At age 13 Emma was surprised when a new foster family wanted her. She was even more surprised to find that they already had twin girls two year younger than her. To top all that off she found out that Rachel lived in the same building that they did. Emma always thought that this was Rachel's way of keeping her close because the family she was living with did not really need any money or anymore children. Emma found that she spent a lot of afternoons at Rachel's apartment.

"So Emma how was school today?" Rachel asked as she made Emma a sandwich. Emma really didn't like the way Rachel took care of her, but she insisted.

"Horrible like usual."

"What happened?'

"Just the same old stuff that happens everyday."

"Did you make any new friends?"

"No."

"I'm sorry sweetie."

"It's okay its not your fault." That was another thing Emma found she didn't like about Rachel, she always felt like she was somehow responsible for the way Emma was raised. When really it was her birth parent's fault.

"Actually Emma I have something to give you."

"What? Why?"

"Well Steve didn't really need it anymore and he wanted to give it to you."

"Really or did you make him."

"Okay well I did give him the suggestion, but he thought it was a good idea." She handed Emma a box. Inside was an iPod Nano.

"Oh my god, Rachel you didn't have to give this to me."

"No you have to keep it, we wanted you to have it. Plus Steve got the newer one, and I already have an iPod."

"I don't really listen to that much music."

"That's because you never had an iPod before."

* * *

Emma had stopped going to her apartment when the bus dropped her off and always went straight to Rachel's. She had become incredibly close to both Rachel and Steve. Steve really liked to get Emma into new bands and it turned out Emma had great music tastes, according to Steve anyway.

"Hey Emma. Come in Rachel is in the bathroom." Steve said as he let her in to the apartment one day. She sat on the sofa. A took out a book she was reading for school. She tried to concentrate, but it was hard to listen to Rachel vomiting in the bathroom. She looked at Steve who was making dinner.

"Is she okay?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it she will be fine."

"Do you want me to leave?"

"No, you can stay, she will be out soon." About ten minutes later Rachel came out.

"Oh hey Emma." She said sitting down next to her.

"Are you okay?" Emma asked.

"Yeah. Actually I have some pretty exciting news."

"What is it."

"I'm pregnant."

"Thats... Amazing. I'm so happy for you." Emma managed to say. She gave Rachel a hug.

"Thanks Em. We're so excited."

"Yeah we've always wanted our own baby." Steve faked a smile even though she wanted to cry. She knew it was completely irrational and stupid, but she had always hoped that one day Rachel and Steve would adopt her. She practically lived with them anyway. It made life more bearable knowing she could go home to them. But now she knew the truth. They never really loved her. They just saw her as a charity case.

"I should go." She grabbed her bag and headed out the door.

"Emma." Rachel called into the hallway. "Emma wait."

"What." She was already crying.

"What is going on?"

"You wanted a kid of your own. So congratulations. I'm leaving so I won't have to bother you anymore."

"Oh Emma. Sweetie. Listen we love you. I love having you visit me, its my favorite part of the day. "

"But now you are going to have your own kid. You won't have time for me."

"Sweetie. I'll always have time for you. I don't want you to think that we are replacing you." Rachel gave her a hug. Even though Rachel would always love Emma, they grew apart once her own baby came. Emma knew that and was glad that she was finally going to move so she wouldn't have to see Rachel starting her new life without her anymore.

* * *

**Sorry it has taken such a long time for me to update this. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next chapter I really want to take place during just one year of Emma's life but I also think I'm going to include some flash backs to parts in her past. Also would anyone be interested in having parts with Neal and Emma, once she gets old enough?**


	4. Chapter 4

_AN: Okay so I feel really bad I forgot to address the fact that I totally disregarded the timeline in which this story would actually take place. Some mentioned that Emma would not be getting an iPod because those weren't even a thing back when she was 13, and yes I did realize that, but I choose to ignore it because I was too lazy to care. She will still be using her iPod and maybe get a cell phone, but other then that there won't really be any other instances where the historical accuracy matters, so I'm just going to go for it. Sorry if that bothers you._

* * *

When Emma was fourteen Rachel decided she needed to go to a good high school. Something about having a bright future if she was just given her best chance. Emma really didn't understand but she did know that Rachel was going to make sure she stayed in the same place for four years. Even if that just meant the same school district. Emma was not that thrilled, but Rachel had a new baby to take care of, she definitely did not have time for her.

This time Rachel went with Emma to the school to check it out. She took Emma to the interview to see if she would be a good fit. They seemed like pretty plain people to her, but they had a pretty big house and a son who was a couple years younger than her. Rachel said she could see it working out, so Emma agreed. How long could four years be?

Emma embraced the first day of freshman year with just as much enthusiasm as she had when going to the hospital. Her only wish was that some of the annoying of kids would leave her alone.

"Hi I'm Susan Quinn."

Emma was startled that somebody was talking to her. She was use to not having any friends at school. "Hi."

"Whats your name."

"Emma."

"What's your last name."

"Swan."

"Oh Emma Swan that is such a pretty name."

Emma didn't answer hoping that the girl would get the hint and go away. "Do you want to eat lunch with me?"

"Why?"

"Because it's the first day and I just moved here. It will be fun. We can be best friends."

Emma was sure that she was not going to be friends with miss perky and time soon. "No." She replied rudely and walked away.

* * *

Susan became one of Emma's biggest problems at this new school. She did not want to give up. She said hi to Emma every single day and always asked her to eat lunch with her. She tried to sit next to her in AP english, so Emma always showed up a little bit later in order to avoid her. She did not even know why she was in AP English, she knew why Susan was in it with her perfect grades and perfect life. She knew why the other nerdy kids were in it. Emma thought about this as she walked back to class at the end of the day because she had forgotten her english book.

"You think you can mess with me? I will punch your face in if you tell." Emma slipped into the classroom where some kids were fighting and almost punched herself in the face because Susan was there too. Susan didn't seem to notice her because she was too busy watching one of the scrawny nerdy kids getting beat up by Drew. Drew was the only other person in her English class that Emma wasn't really sure belonged. Emma was pretty sure he got high in the school parking lot everyday, not really AP material.

"Get off of him" Susan yelled.

"Shut up Susan stay out of it."

"No you can't hurt Brian, he is not the one who cheated."

"Don't worry Susan I can stand up for myself." Brian called before delivering one of the weakest punches Emma had ever seen. She had to tried her hardest to keep from laughing. Drew got really angry then and pushed Brian up against the chalk board. Susan started crying and Drew kept pushing Brian. Emma felt kind of bad so she decided to intervene. She ran at Drew from the side and knocked him to the ground.

"What the fuck?" He had no idea Emma was even in the room."What the hell is your problem?"

"Oh are you going to hit me now." Emma threatened. "Maybe slam me into the chalk board?"

"Emma don't." Susan said.

"Wow Susan really just stay out of it." Brian said.

"Brian you little shit at least she was trying to help." Drew said running Brian into the chalk board again.

"Whose side are you even on?" Emma asked, but she never got an answer.

"What is going on in here?" Their english teacher asked coming into the room. "Principals office, all of you, now."

* * *

"So what exactly was the fight about in the first place?" Emma asked Susan and Brian. Drew was already getting questioned by the principal.

"Brian caught Drew cheating and was going to tell, but Drew didn't want him to."

"Wow Brian you're the one who should stay of it. It's Drew's life not yours, let him cheat."

"Stop defending the criminal Emma." Susan said. Emma was done talking to these people.

They all got a week of detention only because this took place after school and the principal did not think they deserved a suspension. Emma was pissed because she had to spend a whole week with these people locked in a room.

* * *

The detention surprisingly did not make her new foster mother Julia that upset. "Well at least you were standing up for somebody. That requires character." Emma thought she was crazy. Any of her other parents would have been pissed, even Rachel would have grounded her.

Emma walked into the classroom the first day of detention and found that they were not allowed to do anything. Not even homework, which is what Brian was complaining about.

"I have to do this science extra credit. My parents are going to kill me if I don't get an A." He complained.

"How did they take the news that you are going to be stuck in detention all week?" Drew asked.

"Will you two just stop fighting, that's what got us all here in the first place." Susan complained. They all looked at Emma waiting for her to comment on the situation. Except she didn't. The two hours passed incredibly slowly and Emma knew she had to be better prepared tomorrow.

* * *

The teacher moderating their detention took attendance and stayed in the classroom for twenty minutes, before she went to flirt with the hot new english teacher in the teacher's lounge. As soon as she left Emma reached into her backpack and pulled out a sweatshirt with a hood on it.

"What are you doing?" Susan asked. Emma didn't answer and instead took out her iPod. She put the headphones in and turned it on shuffle before putting it into her bra. She then put the sweatshirt on and took her hair out of her ponytail, hiding the earbuds in her hood and hair. She then sat back down in her seat and put her backpack on the desk, using it as a pillow she fell asleep.

"Emma wake up! She's going to be back any minute now." Susan said, shaking her awake. Emma quickly pulled the ear buds out of her ears and hid them in her shirt. As soon as she had finished the teacher came back.

"Thanks." Emma said to Susan on her way out of the classroom.

* * *

Wednesday Emma had the same plan only this time she was going to set an alarm so she would wake up before Susan did. While Emma was asleep Susan brought a book to read. The boys had gotten so bored that they decided it would be a good idea to play catch with one of the chairs. The only rule was that it could not touch the ground because it would make a huge noise and they would get in trouble again. Brian was significantly less skilled at catch, and thus accidentally threw the chair in the wrong direction. In hit Emma in the head and she fell off the chair she was sitting on. The chair Brian threw landed on top of the desk Susan was at and made a huge sound as it knocked the desk to the ground.

"Holy shit Emma I'm so sorry!" Brian said. All three of them ran to her side.

"I'm sure sorry is going to fix that concussion you gave her. " Drew said.

Emma knew that she couldn't start crying, even though her head hurt more than it ever had before. She tried to sit up, but her head was spinning. "Emma are you okay?" Susan asked.

"I... Yeah. I'll be fine." She responded. "Somebody is going to come check on us. Really soon."

"Oh yeah they for sure heard that sound." Brian said, rushing to fix Susan's desk and put the chair back. "Everybody needs to go back to their seats. I'm not getting detention again."

"This is all your fault you asshole, what the fuck is your problem." Drew said.

"Stop we can fight later." Emma said trying to stand up. She was extremely dizzy and grabbed on to Drew for support. He walked to her chair sat her down, just before the teacher came in.

"What in the world was that?"

"What was what?" Susan asked innocently.

"That sound. What were you guys doing in here."

"I have no clue what that was." Brian said.

"Yeah I think it might have been coming from the gym." Drew said.

"It must be the volleyball team." Emma added.

"Well I guess you are right. I'll go check on them."

"Thank you, see you in an hour and a half." Susan said back.

"Are you sure you are okay?" Drew asked.

"Yeah, do you any of you guys have some water?" Brian handed her his bottle and she took a drink from it. She actually was started to feel a lot better.

"I'm really sorry Emma."

"It's okay. I didn't die."

* * *

During school the next day Drew and Brian kept apologizing to her and asking her if she was okay. Emma found it so annoying, Susan was looking like a better friend option. Not that she needed friends.

She left her iPod at home, she did not want to risk being hit by a chair again. Even though she knew the chance of that happening was very minimal.

"I don't know why I even bother to show up to this crap. She doesn't even care what we do here." Drew said.

"You aren't learning anything Drew? Oh how surprising." Susan said cooly. Emma never realized how sassy Susan could be and started laughing. "See even Emma agrees!"

"So how are we going to pass these two hours this time?" Brian asked. "We can basically do what ever we want as long as it is quiet."

"Why aren't you doing your homework?" Drew said. "Isn't that your biggest concern in life."

"Well I already finished my homework for the next two weeks."

"Of course you did."

The time went by quickly as the four of them pretty much continued arguing the whole time. Emma even had to admit that she was having a pretty good time.

Emma had forgotten her jacket in the locker and had to stop at that before she headed home. On her way out she saw Susan talking on the phone. "Mom please I can't walk home alone. What if something happens. It's so cold out. I can't wait another two hours." Emma watched as Susan started started to walk home and finally decided to be nice for once.

"Susan!" She called out, running to catch up with her. "Where do you live."

"It's like a twenty minute walk from here. Why?"

"I can walk you home if you want."

"What? Why would you want to do that?"

"Well you are always so nice to me, and I'm always such a bitch to you."

"You aren't that bad." Susan answered. They had started to walk down the street and Emma couldn't believe that after all the times she had ignored Susan she still wanted to be her friend.

"Are you kidding? I ignore you like all the time."

"Yeah, but I still want to be you friend."

"Why? I'm sure there are a hundred of other people who would want to be your friend."

"Yeah but they are all really mean."

"And you're saying that I'm not mean?"

"You aren't. Not really. Like I know you pretend to be this tough person, but you really do care about other people. Like you could have threw Brian and Drew under the bus yesterday, when they hit you with that chair. But instead you pretended everything was fine just so they wouldn't get in trouble again. You also weren't that mad when they hit you."

"It was an accident."

"Yeah but it must have hurt like crazy."

"Yeah I have this huge bump on the back of my head."

"Oh my god you should put some ice on that." They continued talking until they reached Susan's house and she invited Emma in. Usually Emma would have said no, but she really had to use the bathroom.

When she came out of the bathroom Susan had taken out a plate of cookies and poured two glasses of milk for both of them to drink. "Oh I really should be going."

"You should sleepover."

"Umm don't we have school tomorrow."

"Yeah but its will be a Friday. Who really pays attention on a Friday."

"You do."

"I know, but seriously it will be so much fun."

"Won't your parent's mind?"

"No they use to let my old friends stay over whenever they wanted. Call your parents and ask."

Normally Emma would have went home, but this was her first opportunity to make a friend. She had been alone her whole life and had started to get really lonely. She picked up the phone to call Julia who was surprisingly very cool with Emma staying over. She could definitely see herself really liking Julia, if she was the kind of person who liked people.

After finishing all their homework which Susan made them do they watched a movie and played monopoly. Emma met Susan's parents who were incredibly nice and funny and everything she imagined perfect parents to be. In the morning Susan woke up at 6 even though school started at 8 and she only lived 20 minutes away. Emma woke up at 7:30 and found that Susan had gone running. "Are you even real?" Emma asked.

"What do you mean? Wait don't answer that we are going to be late. Do you need something to wear?"

"What size are you?"

"0 what about you."

"Of course you are. Yeah that's not going to fit me."

"You can wear one of my dresses."

"I don't really like dresses."

"It's time to change that. Dresses are awesome." She handed Emma a bright pink dress.

"Can I at least start with a different color?"

"Oh sorry. What about black and white stripes?"

* * *

In detention that day everybody was in a good mood. "I'm actually going to miss this." Brian said.

"Why?" Drew asked.

"I got to miss science and math team."

"I thought you liked those things."

"Well I don't."

"Why do you do it then." Emma asked.

"Because my parents want me to get into a good college, and all my friends do it."

"If all your friends were jumping off a cliff would you do it?" Susan asked.

"Only if my parents made me." Brian answered. Everybody was quiet for a moment.

"Lets never have I ever."

"What's that?" Emma was glad Brian had asked because Susan rolled her eyes before she explained.

* * *

"Never have I saw an elephant in real life." Emma said. She was really bad at this game because she hated talking about her life. The others did not seem to notice as they laughed and joked with each other. Emma suddenly felt that she had friends, for the first time in her life. That people were on her side and she had to admit that she loved it.

_AN: Sorry for the kind of horrible ending. Also sorry it has been a while since I last uploaded. This took me a really long time to write and I don't really know how it turned out so feedback would be great. I also hope you like how I slowed down the storyline and focused on one week in Emma's life. I probably won't go into that much detail again, because I really want to include her relationship with Neal in this story, but we have to wait a couple years for that so stay tuned. _


End file.
